Today was my last day as a working mom. I said goodbye to my very first teaching job and it was a bittersweet experience.
The past two years have been a beautiful challenge. When I took this job, it was out of necessity. I needed a teaching job and was coming up empty handed from elementary schools, so preschool it had to be. I really wasn't prepared for such young children. I wanted structured lecture style lessons with organized activities; I had no idea how to embrace the concept of learning through play. I also had no idea how to teach behavior and social skills that are taken for granted in elementary schools, like waiting your turn, keeping hands to self, and being nice. Even hand washing had to be taught, and I had to muster the patience to teach it! As if this weren't enough, I was blessed with arguably the most challenging group of children ever to enter a classroom. I spent my first few months in this profession that I had dreamed of joining being hit, kicked, bitten, pinched, scratched, head butted, and called names a 4 year old shouldn't even know.
But with all those challenges came the surprising opportunity to feel the greatest sense of accomplishment imaginable as I overcame them. I worked with an amazingly varied population of children and families from all socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, and ability levels. I harnessed the love and respect of these wonderful people and they taught me lessons that I am forever grateful to take with me wherever life leads me. I gained immeasurable experience that no other position at any other place could have given me, and I thank God for not giving me what I thought would be best for myself. I couldn't have imagined a more supportive environment to enter the world of early childhood education or more wonderful people to have welcomed me into it.
As I left today, my heart is full from the hugs my sweet kiddos gave me and the words of encouragement and love from their parents and my coworkers. I am so excited to start spending my days at home with my sweet boy, but I will look back with fondness at the days I spent in the classroom.
The past two years have been a beautiful challenge. When I took this job, it was out of necessity. I needed a teaching job and was coming up empty handed from elementary schools, so preschool it had to be. I really wasn't prepared for such young children. I wanted structured lecture style lessons with organized activities; I had no idea how to embrace the concept of learning through play. I also had no idea how to teach behavior and social skills that are taken for granted in elementary schools, like waiting your turn, keeping hands to self, and being nice. Even hand washing had to be taught, and I had to muster the patience to teach it! As if this weren't enough, I was blessed with arguably the most challenging group of children ever to enter a classroom. I spent my first few months in this profession that I had dreamed of joining being hit, kicked, bitten, pinched, scratched, head butted, and called names a 4 year old shouldn't even know.
But with all those challenges came the surprising opportunity to feel the greatest sense of accomplishment imaginable as I overcame them. I worked with an amazingly varied population of children and families from all socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, and ability levels. I harnessed the love and respect of these wonderful people and they taught me lessons that I am forever grateful to take with me wherever life leads me. I gained immeasurable experience that no other position at any other place could have given me, and I thank God for not giving me what I thought would be best for myself. I couldn't have imagined a more supportive environment to enter the world of early childhood education or more wonderful people to have welcomed me into it.
As I left today, my heart is full from the hugs my sweet kiddos gave me and the words of encouragement and love from their parents and my coworkers. I am so excited to start spending my days at home with my sweet boy, but I will look back with fondness at the days I spent in the classroom.
0 Comments